Quincy launches Hancock Cemetery restoration

Tuesday

Apr 15, 2014 at 3:31 PMApr 29, 2014 at 4:39 PM

QUINCY -- The city is set to begin a $113,000 restoration of gravestones at the Hancock Cemetery, where Josiah Quincy, Henry Adams – the great-great grandfather of John Adams – and the Rev. John Hancock, the father of John Hancock are buried.

“There are many important people buried at this site, but there are also beautiful stone carvings on these gravestones, many of which were carved by hand, and they are some of the oldest in the country,” said Ta Mara Conde of Historic Gravestone Services, the firm hired to do the work.

Conde outlined the project during a Tuesday presentation to Mayor Thomas Koch and other city officials at city hall.

The project will include resetting and repairing 259 gravestones in the cemetery in downtown Quincy by Aug. 29.

The city is using $80,000 in community preservation funds and a $33,000 grant from the Massachusetts Historical Commission.

Assistant City Planner Kara Chisholm believes this is the first use of community preservation funds for cemetery preservation in Quincy. The money comes from a 1 percent annual surcharge on property-tax bills in Quincy.

Anthony Ricci, chair of the Quincy Historical Commission, said the project is an important part of the city’s Quincy Center improvement project.

“Every year we’re amazed by the amount of historical project requests we receive,” Ricci said. “We’re an old town. We have a great deal of history that we need to protect and I hope we can continue to do it in future years.”